Xi Jinping likely to visit India for BRICS summit

NEW DELHI — August 24, 2026

Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to visit India next month for the BRICS summit in New Delhi, marking his first trip to the country in seven years and potentially signaling further improvement in China-India relations. Three Indian sources said preparations were underway for a large Chinese delegation.

India will host the BRICS summit on September 12 and 13. Xi's possible attendance is expected to draw attention not only to the meeting itself but also to efforts by Beijing and New Delhi to stabilize relations after deadly border clashes in 2020.

One Indian source familiar with the preparations said Chinese officials were working on hotel arrangements and security measures. Two other sources said Xi could travel with about 400 officials, more than twice the size of the Chinese delegation that accompanied him to India in 2019.

The final details of Xi's travel plans and any possible meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have not yet been confirmed. China's Foreign Ministry said Beijing supports India's role as this year's BRICS chair and wants the summit to succeed, but it did not provide information on whether Xi would attend.

India's Foreign Ministry did not comment on the reported visit. Xi did not attend the previous BRICS summit, held in Brazil in 2025.

The possible visit comes as China and India continue efforts to manage tensions along their disputed Himalayan border. The two countries share a roughly 3,800-kilometre frontier that is largely undemarcated, and both are nuclear-armed powers.

Relations deteriorated sharply after clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in 2020 left 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers dead. The confrontation led to a prolonged military standoff before the two sides reached an agreement on troop disengagement in October 2024.

Modi visited China last year for the first time in seven years, but progress in relations has remained gradual. A new border dispute in recent months also led to strong diplomatic exchanges between the two governments.

On August 12, India said maintaining peace along the border was essential for improving ties after reports that Indian and Chinese patrols had confronted each other in late July near a remote border area.

India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval also began a visit to Beijing on Monday for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, with the border dispute expected to be a key issue in discussions.

China and India remain strategic competitors, but tensions over U.S. trade policies have created some common ground between the two countries. Xi's possible presence at the BRICS summit could therefore signal that both governments want to strengthen cooperation within the group while continuing to manage disagreements over the border and wider regional security.